middleofsomewhere | Event: 12 of Beetroot

Event: 12 of Beetroot

It's been a couple of weeks since they had evacuated Osiga. In that time, many of voidtreckers were busy with a project to try and solve some of the many mysteries that surround the train they travel on. By the eight day of Rabbit they've exhausted all avenues, and whilst they have learned quite a bit, there are still some clear gaps.

Just as that investigation comes to a natural end, passengers are woken up by an announcement.

"Attention voidtreckers and passengers of the voidtrecker express. We are travelling to system #2554098133741. I have sent word to the ministry who have arranged recuperation packs for you. You have had a difficult mission and you deserve a rest.

But it is not just for rest. Last time we visited the system voidtreckers shared memories. Though it is understood that many of you did not enjoy the experience it is notable that certain voidtreckers saw memories of this voidcraft. They were memories that this craft had not accessed. It led to more pathways opening up in the operation of this craft.

I have done some research on the system and I believe we can trigger the caves of memory. This voidcraft understands this might be difficult for the voidtreckers and passengers of the voidtrecker express and it is hoped that only those of you who consent to this experiment will take part.

Regardless this should be a time for relaxation also and the dressing room is open for your convenience. We will arrive in the morning.

The dressing carriage is indeed opened for those who go and look. It's filled with swimming costumes, beach ware, summery clothes and sun hats. There's even a cupboard of buckets, spades, rock pooling gear and picnic blankets.

There are also team coloured tents for those who want to go and sleep under the stars for a night or two, though the train is remaining on the island for those for who camping is their idea of hell.

12 OF BEETROOT

RABBIT 9-12 ~ MEMORY CAVES: BONDING ~ MEMORY MAZE: SEARCH FOR THE TRAIN'S MEMORIES
ASK QUESTIONS ~ LOCATION INFORMATION ~ MEMORY CAVES ~ MEMORY MASTER POST

JEMA'GRETHY ISLAND: RELAXATION

The next day the train announces their arrival and they burst out of the void. For those near a window their first view of the island will be of crystal blue sea and white sand. It really does look like a paradise. The train circles down before landing on a grassy ridge, overlooking a beautiful beach of white sand and the ocean beyond. It is warm, but not too hot, a cool ocean breeze cutting through the heat making it pleasant. Behind them is a grassy plain, changing to forest in the distance. There is the sound of birdsong in the purple sky. To the west the land is more craggy, the silhouette of a fortress in the distance.

In a word, it is idyllic. A sense of peace permeates the island.

The place has no people, but it is clearly maintained. The eastern beaches have racks of shallow boats, both canoes and one- or two-person sailing dinghies. There is also a small building in which scuba gear is stored, along with several waterproofed manuals and instructional literature.

There are no living quarters, but there are sheltered sections with basic toilet facilities marked as camping grounds in five different sections of the island - by the hot springs, within the ruined fortress, beside the harbour, on the eastern beaches, and on the northern face of the mountain.

The recuperation packs are found at the closest toilet facilities to where the train lands. They are simple things, small gift baskets with a couple of fragrant soaps, fancier hair products and skin cream infused with herbs to encourage rest and sleep.

There are some sweet fruit biscuits and a cheesy bread. The packs aren't named but there are some suitable for the younger passengers with tiny plush and colouring books. Quite a few designed for teens with a more engaging activity book and components for making a fancy mocktail with a cute stirrer. Adult packs have a small bottle of alcohol- there's a mixture between the packs and what looks like a stone. When placed next to the skin it will either warm up or cool down depending on what is needed.

Exploring, the passengers will find beautiful beaches, ragged cliffs to walk and caves to explore. Where it is more craggy the beaches are made of pebbles, perfect for rock pooling.

A little more worrying is the volcano-like structure in the north. But even a quick glance will show it is not a typical volcano. There is no smoke and the liquid slowly running down it in rivulets is pink and blue.

Ruins of ancient houses are scattered across the island, but the main settlement is built into a rocky section in the north-west that has been secured with ropes and stairways cut into the cliffs, perfect for scrambles and hikes.

To the west are the hot springs. They have both outdoor and indoor areas; the indoor areas being wooden loghouse saunas, changing rooms and storage sheds, whilst the outdoor areas are a tiered series of pools spilling down the side of the mountain and shaded by brightly flowering trees. The waters are hot, mineral-rich and soothing.

MEMORY CAVES: BONDING

Shortly before arriving they will receive some information on their SCA. It will explain how those who once lived on this island went about making life bonds. Both people would bathe in the hot springs and then dress simply, barefoot and walk to one of seven rocks on the island. Their maps will pin point these, which is good because there's no real indication of what makes these rocks different to any other on the island.

Here they must offer their wish to know the other deeper and share food and drink. They can then go about their day. Sometime in the hours after they will receive their first memory, seen through their partners eyes.

However it seems that in envoking the ritual they have woken something on the island. Even those who did not take part or chose to bond to someone find themselves seeing a glimpse of another life.

On the second day they see another memory, through the eyes of their pair. When they come out of it they find themselves in a cave with their partner, chosen or not. The same happens on the third day, except for this final memory both pairs see both memories, watching from the sidelines as it plays out. They find themselves in the cave once more and this time, for many there is only one exit, to leave through together.

Please go here to play out the bonding process!

MEMORY MAZE: TRAIN'S MEMORIES

On the third day the train sends another message to their SCA.

"Activating the caves that share memories has been successful. I know this is a lot to ask of the voidtreckers, but any who wish to assist in discovering what it is that I have forgotten, the path is open now.

Those who wish to may go to the sacred rocks. Please be warned, I do not know how voidtreckers will fare. Please only go of your own free will."

Their SCA's once again show the rocks on their maps and when they get there, this time they are faintly glowing. It doesn't take much. One touch and their minds are drawn away from their bodies, into a labyrinth of caves. For anyone who comes across these people on the island, they look like they are in a deep trance, breathing, safe but far away in their mind.

The labyrinth is made of cool, dark rock. The walls have a glow coming from crystals in-bedded in them, allowing everyone to see as they move through.

At first there's no more to this labyrinth, or so it seems. But then they turn a corner, and they are no longer in cavern as it just was. They may be in their childhood bedroom, or in the middle of a battle they once fought. Perhaps they are not in their own memory, but someone else's. Scenes move rapidly and often merge, one persons into another, mixing to make strange scenes.

These visions don't attempt to ensnare them like some illusions, and those with protection from illusions and such techniques, will be able to find their way forward through the cave, and away from this triggered scenario.

Time barely has meaning. Indeed, when they finally emerge from the caves only a few minutes will have passed. But in that time they will have seen much, and eventually they may stumble across a fragment of memory that belongs not to a voidtrecker, but to the Voidtrecker Express itself.

OOC NOTES

OOC Post ~ Questions
~ You can either write memories in your tags or if they are longer/require a lot of content warnings you might want to write them in this post and link to them. Just start a top level with your character name to keep things organised!

~ For those taking part in the memory share bonding the cave post is here. Characters arrive in the cave after the second and third memory but it is obviously up to you if you play out the conversations after each or both! For those who do decide that their characters will bond- the cave after the third memory will only have one exit for them to leave together.

~ For those who signed up for train memories you will receive the snippet that your character sees- use these in tags as you will. There will be a conclusion post on the 24th which will put all of those memories together!

Art Credits: Header: Tropical Jewel by Steven Power, Thumbnail image 3.

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Molly's still not sure how she wound up here. She's getting a bit tired of not knowing how she wound up places, really. It's happening way too much lately. "This... is weird."

She's sure she hadn't seen a cave earlier.

He-- wasn't he next to a rock, just a few seconds ago?

Esteban blinks, eyes catching onto the bioluminescent moss that clings to the cavern's walls, spinning onto himself in the half-gloom. Nothing at all like the clear purple skies that had greeted them when they'd gotten off the train, or the many beaches he'd passed by on his search for the nearby stones. The glow is soft, and shifts slowly from one colour to the next, a painted rainbow that wafts gently across the smooth stones.

There's no exit.

That rattles him, itches down his back like his skin might jump out of him. It takes him a deep, slow breath to try and smooth the instant choking in his throat, and the way his heartbeat's ran off without him, swift as a hummingbird's wings. He only notices the young girl after he's breathed out a second time, and his entire focus turns to her, simply to try and manage the pressure-panic that still echoes in the back of his head.

"Hello~" He greets, as friendly as he can be under the circumstances. He comes to settle next to her, dropping to a knee because his legs don't feel very strong right now. Focus on the girl. The rest doesn't matter-- not right now.

"Um. I'm Esteban!" He greets with a smile. It's not nerves-- he'd never be nervous about meeting new people, after all, and the simple hello helps him find his tongue again. The train is usually smaller than this, he reminds himself, and another breath helps him carve out some calm into his bones.

"What's your name?"

Okay. She's stuck in a cave that wasn't here a moment ago with someone she's never met. This is fine. No alarm bells going off in her head at all.

But not introducing herself isn't going to help the situation. She can control that much at least. "I'm Molly."

Just the first name though. He hadn't said any other name so maybe he wouldn't find that weird.

"Alright, then, Molly." He pauses, tries to find the words that keep on escaping him when he opens his mouth. It's going to be fine.

"We're gonna be fine," he reassures her, settling on the plural because it does sound better. He reaches out for her shoulder, to give it a gentle squeeze as he tries to keep her spirits up, because they need to keep themselves together here.

Esteban is far from being the guy with a plan, but he's been finding himself in those shoes a lot more often lately, so he tries his best to make one on the spot. He's spent too long in these memory caves not to get a hint that maybe, just maybe they're inside one now. Though-- he hadn't expected to ever encounter someone else in them per say.

"I'm sure it's gonna fix itself in a few minutes, right?" he offers, trying to keep the young girl from worrying too much. Or maybe himself. Definitely himself. He still feels his skin crawl from the sheer thought that they don't have an exit right now.

"C'n you help me check the walls for airflow though?" It's... a thing that gets done in caves, right? And at the very least, it helps Esteban to have something to do with himself, to skim above the strain of his thoughts at the moment.

Molly stiffens at the unexpected touch, but holds herself back from doing anything too rash.

She's glad when he has a request that means stepping away though. She's been in caves before, she can do this. A reason to walk over to the walls and start feeling. "If we can figure out which way is out, I can get us an escape route."

There's a startled blink from her red-haired companion when she casually mentions getting an escape route, but she's already moving away from him, and he doesn't hold her back. But conversation is fine, especially if he can just prod lightly about this mysterious girl-- he knows she has to be from the train, but he'd never noticed her before now, and it makes him curious.

Well. Anything and everything makes him curious to be honest.

"Are you like Kitty?" He asks aloud instead, grinning at the prospect. "Or Danny-- they both c'n phase through walls, y'know?" He doesn't quite know the extent of their powers, but it seems like a pretty cool thing that they're able to do.

Their conversation doesn't stop him from reaching out to the softly glowing walls and search for a breeze, a tiny movement in the wind. He traces his hands high and low, and moves, one step at a time to try and seek out the exit they both want.

"I'm like Kitty, but not because I can phase through walls." It's a neat power, but being a mutant doesn't quite work like that. "My powers make me really strong instead, I've punched out of caves before."

She says it rather casually, like it's perfectly normal for a twelve year old girl wearing a hat with cat ears to do things like that.

The sheer uh- please no that shakes her companion that moment is difficult to ignore. The idea that the cave could collapse on them rattles him, and he has to swallow through a dry throat before he shakes his head, forcing his voice aloud.

"You never got trapped?" Not helping, not helping-- but if she finds comfort in her own powers... Esteban can understand the idea of it, in some ways. His back is still itching, even though he knows that he can't do anything personally about this. "How'd you manage that?"

There's no airflow that he can sense, but the cavern doesn't smell... rank. Forgotten. It still seems as fresh as the sea breeze that teases them outside, and Esteban isn't quite sure what to make of this-- most caverns he knows taste of dust and stone, not salt and sunshine.

"We were trapped. I got us untrapped once we figured out which way was up." Probably why she isn't worried at all.

Well, she's worried about lots of things, but not about whether she can get out of the cave if they figure out which way to go. "But that time there were a lot more obvious options."

She doesn't expect tapping on the wall to reveal anything, but she does it anyway just in case. And... it doesn't.

They've gone around the cave, but there hasn't been a single breeze, or tickle that might indicate how they are not choking on thin air. Esteban allows himself a brief moment where he gnaws at his lower lip, facing the wall and gathering what strength he can from every shred of hope and calm that remains within him. He circles back to the center of the cave, watching the light play across his skin as he sits down on the uncomfortable ground, and grins at the girl still standing.

"Well. Don't think there's lots of options t' us right now." Don't linger too much on it. "But I don't r'member how I got 'here', so--" He shrugs lightly, trying to make the movement casual, and for the most part he succeeds, even if he feels the gesture rattle in his bones. It's going to be okay.

"D'you think this is a dream?" He tries to suggest, an attempt at soothing himself more than anything else.

"I think it's a freaky magic thing." It's never a good idea to assume something is a dream. "The train takes us to lots of weird places."

Even if it's a dream it's probably one of those weird dreams where it cane hurt you after all.

That is true. There's a short moment where Esteban tries to ponder about this, he knee jumping with the nerves that still assail him, but the quiet only makes him more strained. His back itches, and he wants to move, but there's nowhere to move to.

"I don't deal well with tight spaces," he warns, because it's fairly obvious at that point anyways, so hiding it serves little to no purpose. "Where I'm from, there's so much open land. Giant trees surrounded by small villages, an' the saltgrass seas beyond them."

He's clinging, a bit, to the smell of the salt in the air, to help him believe that he might be there. Like the breeze that might be dancing across the trees, from so much open space up across the mountains. It helps a bit. Lingers like a memory from underneath his skin. He'd been in Lindenloom, last-- the tall tree supporting his weight while he listened to the wind.

In the memory caves, it makes it easy to slip into it, recalling it just as clearly as if it had been yesterday. But he shakes his head, shifts away from it after a moment, because clear though it may be, he can't linger in his thoughts for too long; he won't abandon Molly like this.

"How about you? What kind of place d'you come from?" he asks, simply, hoping the distraction is at least welcome to the young girl.

Edited 2022-06-11 03:13 (UTC)

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Event: 12 of Beetroot

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